This thesis examines the role of dialogic processes in representations of conversion narratives and expressions of poetic subjectivity across the works of four poets: Guittone d’Arezzo (c.1235-1294), Guido Guinizzelli (c.1230-1276), Guido Cavalcanti (c.1255-1300) and Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). The introduction proposes a definition of ‘dialogic processes’ drawing on theoretical models of performativity and dialogism. It presents the usefulness of these approaches to the analysis of narratives of conversion and accounts of subjectivity in poetry. Chapter 1 analyses Guittone’s conversion poetics in light of these processes and seeks to complicate the teleology of his narrative of self. Chapter 2 examines the poetry of Guinizzelli and Cavalcanti, first establishing the ‘poetic conversion’ of Guinizzelli in dialogue with his own and others’ poetry. It then examines Cavalcanti’s physiological performance of a polyphonic subjectivity and how far this poetic expression partakes in the dialogic processes previously discussed in relation to religiously inflected writing. Chapters 3 and 4 will explore the manifestations of these phenomena of dialogue and performance in Dante’s oeuvre with particular focus on the Commedia as a key site for intertextual interaction both with his own earlier texts and with the texts (and figures) of the other poets under discussion. These chapters will seek to reopen the teleological closure which Dante tries to impose on his vernacular predecessors, as well as on his own works. The weight of critical engagement with Dante’s predecessors has treated them as sources or reference points for Dante’s own praxis. I aim to consider Guittone, Guinizzelli and Cavalcanti on their own terms and in dialogue with one another before approaching Dante through these poets, thus reconstructing the networks of poetic dialogue in late medieval Italy, and situating Dante firmly within a dialogic tradition of narratives of self and conversion.

Questa tesi consiste nella presentazione dei risultati di un sondaggio condotto in un istituto di prima infanzia si trova in un comune situato nella regione di Florianópolis / SC, nel corso del 2010. Lo studio ha lo scopo di descrivere e analizzare le varie minuzie della vita quotidiana nella professione di insegnante, mettendo in evidenza gli elementi di constituidores fanno fare gli insegnanti. Nel sondaggio cercato legami più stretti tra Pedagogia dell'Infanzia e Sociologia della vita quotidiana, alla ricerca di interfacce interdisciplinari come un modo per comprendere l'insegnamento nel corso della vita di tutti i giorni, e di contribuire alla costruzione di un punto di vista socio-pedagogico dell'infanzia e dell'educazione. I percorsi di indagine, seguendo le ipotesi della ricerca qualitativa mi hanno portato alla realizzazione di un approccio interpretativo, la creazione di un caso di studio. I docenti di questo istituto sono stati i miei interlocutori e mi hanno messo in evidenza, attraverso narrazioni orali, le dinamiche delle diverse routine fare facendo l'insegnamento. Io uso anche racconti scritti da uno degli insegnanti, messa a fuoco della ricerca, e ancora record in campo notebook basato sull'osservazione con la partecipazione al corso di un anno. La scelta di concentrarsi insegnante ha seguito alcuni criteri precedentemente elaborati, il cui requisito fondamentale era che erano un professionista di presentare un "insegnamento di successo". Il contributo principale di questo studio sta nel comprendere che l'azione riflessiva intorno alle varie minuzie della vita quotidiana, soprattutto per quanto riguarda far fare il giorno di insegnamento al giorno, permette di comprendere la complessità della vita vissuta in collettiva istituzione educativa. Hanno mostrato, inoltre, che le minuzie, intesi da alcuni insegnanti come attività didattiche e pedagogiche relative alla cura precoce e educazione - che guidano le dimensioni specifiche di insegnamento nell'educazione della prima infanzia - non sono visti come tali dalla istituzione più professionale. / A presente tese consiste na apresentação dos resultados de uma pesquisa realizada em uma instituição de educação infantil localizada em um município situado na região da Grande Florianópolis/SC, no decorrer do ano de 2010. O estudo teve como objetivo descrever e analisar as diferentes minúcias da vida cotidiana no exercício da docência, destacando os elementos constituidores do fazer-fazendo das professoras. Na pesquisa procurei estreitar os elos entre a Pedagogia da Infância e a Sociologia do Cotidiano, buscando interfaces interdisciplinares como forma de compreender a docência no decurso da vida cotidiana, e de contribuir na construção de uma perspectiva sociopedagógica de infância e de educação. Os caminhos investigativos, seguindo pelos pressupostos da pesquisa qualitativa, conduziram-me à realização de uma abordagem interpretativa, configurando-se um estudo de caso. As professoras da referida instituição foram minhas interlocutoras e me permitiram evidenciar, por meio de narrativas orais, a dinâmica das diferentes rotinas no fazer-fazendo da docência. Também utilizei narrativas escritas de uma das professoras, foco da pesquisa, e ainda registros em caderno de campo com base na observação com participação, no percurso de um ano. A escolha da professora foco seguiu alguns critérios previamente elaborados, cujo requisito essencial era o de que se tratasse de uma profissional que apresentasse uma “docência bem sucedida”. A principal contribuição deste estudo situa-se na compreensão de que a ação reflexiva em torno das diferentes minúcias da vida cotidiana, especialmente no que tange ao fazer-fazendo no dia a dia da docência, possibilita entender a complexidade da própria vida vivida no coletivo da instituição educativa. Evidenciou-se também que as minúcias, entendidas por algumas professoras como atividades educacional-pedagógicas relacionadas ao princípio de cuidado e educação - dimensões norteadoras da especificidade da docência na educação infantil -, ainda não são vistas como tal por grande parte das profissionais da instituição. / The present thesis is about the result presentations of a research held in an infantile education institution placed in a municipality in Florianópolis/SC in 2010. The study aims to describe and analyze different details of everyday life concern to teaching, highlighting the constitutor elements of make-making of teachers. In the research was tried to narrow the links between Childhood Pedagogy and Everyday Life Sociology, searching for interdisciplinary interfaces as a way to understand teaching along everyday life and to contribute in the construction of a childhood and education socio-pedagogy perspective. The investigative ways, following by the qualitative research presumptions have led to hold an interpretative approach, configuring a case study. The teachers from that institution were interlocutors and allowed proving, through oral reports, the different routine dynamics of make-making of teaching. It was also used written reports of one of the teachers, focus of the research, and also records in notebook based on observation with participation, along the year. The choice of the focused teacher followed some criteria previously elaborated and the essential requisite was that the professional had a “successful teaching”. The main contribution of this study is placed on the understanding that the reflexive action surrounded by detailed differences of everyday life, specially, concerned to make-making of teaching everyday life, allows understanding the complexity of life lived in the educative institution collectivity. It was evidenced also that the details, understood by some teachers as educational-pedagogical activities related to care and education principle – dimensions that lead to specific teaching in infantile education -, are still not seen as such for most professionals of the institutions.

Interpretation of the Life of Moses according to Gregory of Nyssa and Its Inspiration by the Thought of Philo of Alexandria Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BC - c. 40 CE) and his allegorical interpretation of the Bible (especially the Pentateuch) had a strong influence on early Christian writers including Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 - c. 395 CE). It is obvious that Gregory was inspired by Philo judging from the fact that Gregory's treatise The Life of Moses (De vita Moysis) has the same name and a partly similar topic as one of Philo's writings. For Gregory, Moses is an ideal example of perfect virtue which consists in a continual progression toward the Good. The main topic of the thesis is Philo's influence on Gregory's interpretation of Moses. The work discusses the following issues in the thought of both authors: the treatise De vita Moysis, the person of Moses, exegetical principles, perfection that could be demonstrated on the life of a good person, the question of knowledge and unknowability of God and the mediation between God and men. Since Gregory's reception of Philo was influenced by Origen of Alexandria, Origen's biblical exegesis and exegetical theory are also briefly presented. In the centre of the thesis, there are those questions: In what way was Gregory's concept of perfect virtue inspired by the...

<p>The focus of this essay is to investigate if there lies a difference between graffiti art that is placed in the public spaces and graffiti art that is sited in an institutional art setting; in this essay exemplified in a gallery space. My thesis is that graffiti art derives a great deal of its meaning and substance from its situation consequently making a change of cultural context also a change of connotation and understanding of the graffiti art itself.  Meaning that graffiti art situated in a communal space is different from graffiti art situated in the gallery space. They share aesthetic expression but their connotations differ; i.e. one being illegal and the other permissible making their meanings dissimilar. I have used a comparison between site-specific art and graffiti art to further strengthen my thesis concerning the importance of understanding how a change of context critically changes the substance of graffiti art.</p>

La Teoria della Mente (ToM) capacità di rappresentarsi gli stati mentali propri e altrui e di farvi riferimento per prevedere e spiegare il comportamento proprio e altrui riveste un ruolo fondamentale nelle interazioni sociali per un efficace adattamento all'ambiente. Dopo essere stata a lungo indagata in età evolutiva, recentemente la ricerca sulla ToM ha effettuato uno shifting verso fasi successive del ciclo di vita (età adulta ed età anziana) aprendo un nuovo filone di studio in prospettiva life-span. Oggetto della presente tesi di dottorato è lo studio della ToM in prospettiva life-span con tre obiettivi: (1) studiare l'evoluzione della ToM in età adulta e le sue possibile relazioni con la capacità di decision-making, anch'essa dall'alto valore adattivo; (2) studiare la possibile involuzione della ToM in età anziana in condizioni di normalità e di patologia (mild-Alzheimer's disease); (3) indagare i correlati neurali della ToM con metodiche di neuroimaging (fMRI) in soggetti adulti, anziani sani e anziani clinici (Mild Cognitive Impairment, MCI). Le tre ricerche empiriche condotte nella presente tesi di dottorato hanno consentito di rilevare rispettivamente che: (1) la ToM è altamente implicata nei processi di decision-making in età adulta; (2) la ToM subisce una involuzione nei soggetti anziani clinici sin dai livelli più semplici di tale abilità; (3) i circuiti neurali della ToM inizierebbero a mostrare una parziale deattivazione in soggetti anziani clinici rispetto a soggetti di controllo anziani e adulti. / Theory of Mind (ToM) the ability to meta-represent self and others' mental states and to refer to them to foresee and explain the behaviour plays a crucial role in social interactions to provide a successful adaptation to the environment. After being extensively studied in developmental psychology, the research on ToM has recently undergone a shifting towards other life-ages (adulthood and elderly) thus opening a new field if research in a life-span perspective. The object of this PhD thesis is to study of ToM in a life-span perspective with three goals: (1) to study ToM evolution in adult age and to discover its possible relations with the ability of decision-making, which has a major adaptive role as well; (2) to study the possible decay of ToM in old age in normal and clinical conditions (mild-Alzheimer's disease); (3) to study the neural circuits of ToM with neuroimaging methods (fMRI) in adults, healthy old subjects and clinical old subjects (Mild Cognitive Impairment, MCI). The three empiric researches carried on for this PhD thesis provided the following major findings: (1) ToM is highly involved in decision-making processes in adult age; (2) ToM undergoes a decay in clinical old subjects with onset from very simple levels of this ability; (3) ToM neural circuits seem to show a partial deactivation in clinical old subjects and not in healthy old and adult controls.

Obiettivo di questa tesi è una lettura del coolhunting, attività professionale ancora relativamente poco diffusa, come luogo emblematico di meccanismi simbolici cruciali per spiegare non solo il sistema della moda ma anche molti degli andamenti della produzione e del consumo di beni materiali ricchi di contenuti immateriali. Non a caso, il debito teorico di questo lavoro non riguarda solo i fashion studies a partire dal classico saggio di Simmel, ma soprattutto un autore come Pierre Bourdieu, che poche pagine ha dedicato alla moda ma ha coniato concetti, come quelli di campo, capitale culturale e simbolico, habitus e distinzione, che sono diventati imprescindibili in ogni studio di tipo culturale. La base empirica della ricerca è costituita da 42 interviste del tipo racconti di vita, che hanno coinvolto una variegata popolazione di coolhunters inseriti in agenzie o nelle imprese della moda, ricercatori e consulenti free-lance, le cui esperienze lavorative sono analiticamente descritte nei capitoli centrali della tesi. La ricostruzione del mondo del coolhunting si avvale anche di una accurata ricerca effettuata su siti web dedicati. Nel capitolo finale la prospettiva teorica e il corpus di informazioni raccolte trovano una sintesi in (a) una definizione articolata ma precisa di cool-hunter; (b) una tipologia idealtipica; (c) nel concetto bourdieusiano di distinzione, che sembra essere la posta in gioco intorno alla quale ruota tutto il mondo del coolhunting. I coolhunters emergono come intermediari culturali riconosciuti per la loro capacità di cogliere gli stili di consumo emergenti e le macrotendenze culturali per offrirli come spunto alla creatività dei produttori di oggetti di moda mainstream. / The aim of this thesis is a reading of coolhunting, an emergent professional activity, as an emblematic place of symbolic mechanisms that are crucial in order to explain not only the fashion system but also many cultural processes of the production and the consumption of material goods rich of immaterial contents. The theoretical debt does not regard only the fashion studies, beginning from the classic work of Simmel, but above all an author like Pierre Bourdieu, that has dedicated few pages to the fashion, but has coined concepts - as those of field, cultural and symbolic capital, habitus, distinction - that are nowadays essential in every cultural study. The empiric base of the research is a set of 42 in-depht interviews that have involved a heterogeneous population of coolhunters working in trend agencies or fashion companies, researchers and free-lance consultants, whose working experiences are analytically described in the central chapters of the thesis. The reconstruction of the world of the coolhunting is carried out also with a search based on dedicated websites. In the final chapter the theoretical perspective and the empirical evidences are summarized in (a) an articulate definition of coolhunter; b) an idealtypical classification of coolhunting workers; (c) in Pierre Bourdiue’s concept of distinction, that seems to be the stake that moves the field of coolhunting. The coolhunters emerge as cultural intermediaries recognized for their ability to identify the emergent styles of consumption and macro-cultural trends in order to offer them as useful ideas to the creativity of the producers of fashionable mainstream objects.

Utifrån arbetsmodellen Learning study, med variationsteorin som utgångspunkt har forskning genomförts i två klasser i Sverige med syftet att försöka identifiera kritiska aspekterna för elever i årskurs nio inom ämnesområdet det vita ljuset och dess färgspektrum. Studien är en vidareutveckling av en tidigare genomförd studie i Hong Kong och har därför även haft till syfte att undersöka om de identifierade kritiska aspekterna är generaliserbara från en skolkontext till en annan kontext. Den svenska skolan styrs nationellt utifrån styrdokument, skollag, läroplan och kursplan för skolämnet och läraren har även riktlinjer för att få en yrkesetisk förankring. Dessa delar är viktiga att läraren tar i beaktning inför planering av undervisningen. Elevernas bakgrund och förkunskaper i ämnet är av stor vikt för läraren att ta hänsyn till för att de ska kunna ta till sig undervisningen om det som läraren har tänkt att de ska lära sig. I denna studie kunde åtta kritiska aspekter identifieras i de två klasser som undersökningen genomfördes i. Fem av de kritiska aspekterna var redan identifierade i Hong Kong. Slutsatsen är att de kritiska aspekter som identifierats i en kontext också är giltiga i en annan. Som helhet fick forskarna insikten om att Learning study som arbetsmodell och variationsteorin som vägledande princip vid planering av undervisning, kan leda till ett rikare lärande både för eleverna, men även för lärarna som deltar i forskningen. / The Swedish school system is governed on the basis of national policy documents; school law, curriculum and the syllabus for the school subject. The teacher also have guidelines to follow to get a professional ethical foundation and needs to take this and the students' backgrounds and prior knowledge of the subject into account before planning a lesson. How can this be done with one model? This study shows how a Learning study can be used together with the theory of variation as a guideline to richer the learning for pupils in the ninth grade, in two Swedish classes. One of the intentions of this study was to try to identify critical aspects about the learning object: the colour of light. This study is a refinement of a previous study done in Hong Kong and has also been designed to examine if critical aspects can be transferred from one school context to another context. In this study eight critical aspects where identified in the two classes that the survey was conducted in. Five of them where already identified in the study from Hong Kong. The conclusion is that critical aspects are generalized, not only between classes in Sweden, but also between different countries, even if it is from a third grade in Hong Kong to a ninth grade in Sweden. Learning study, as a model, and the theory of variation, as a guiding principle, can lead to a richer learning both for the pupils, but also for the teachers that participate in the research.

The focus of this essay is to investigate if there lies a difference between graffiti art that is placed in the public spaces and graffiti art that is sited in an institutional art setting; in this essay exemplified in a gallery space. My thesis is that graffiti art derives a great deal of its meaning and substance from its situation consequently making a change of cultural context also a change of connotation and understanding of the graffiti art itself.  Meaning that graffiti art situated in a communal space is different from graffiti art situated in the gallery space. They share aesthetic expression but their connotations differ; i.e. one being illegal and the other permissible making their meanings dissimilar. I have used a comparison between site-specific art and graffiti art to further strengthen my thesis concerning the importance of understanding how a change of context critically changes the substance of graffiti art.

<p>Utifrån arbetsmodellen Learning study, med variationsteorin som utgångspunkt har forskning genomförts i två klasser i Sverige med syftet att försöka identifiera kritiska aspekterna för elever i årskurs nio inom ämnesområdet det vita ljuset och dess färgspektrum. Studien är en vidareutveckling av en tidigare genomförd studie i Hong Kong och har därför även haft till syfte att undersöka om de identifierade kritiska aspekterna är generaliserbara från en skolkontext till en annan kontext.</p><p>Den svenska skolan styrs nationellt utifrån styrdokument, skollag, läroplan och kursplan för skolämnet och läraren har även riktlinjer för att få en yrkesetisk förankring. Dessa delar är viktiga att läraren tar i beaktning inför planering av undervisningen. Elevernas bakgrund och förkunskaper i ämnet är av stor vikt för läraren att ta hänsyn till för att de ska kunna ta till sig undervisningen om det som läraren har tänkt att de ska lära sig.</p><p>I denna studie kunde åtta kritiska aspekter identifieras i de två klasser som undersökningen genomfördes i. Fem av de kritiska aspekterna var redan identifierade i Hong Kong. Slutsatsen är att de kritiska aspekter som identifierats i en kontext också är giltiga i en annan. Som helhet fick forskarna insikten om att Learning study som arbetsmodell och variationsteorin som vägledande princip vid planering av undervisning, kan leda till ett rikare lärande både för eleverna, men även för lärarna som deltar i forskningen.</p> / <p>The Swedish school system is governed on the basis of national policy documents; school law, curriculum and the syllabus for the school subject. The teacher also have guidelines to follow to get a professional ethical foundation and needs to take this and the students' backgrounds and prior knowledge of the subject into account before planning a lesson. How can this be done with one model?</p><p>This study shows how a Learning study can be used together with the theory of variation as a guideline to richer the learning for pupils in the ninth grade, in two Swedish classes. One of the intentions of this study was to try to identify critical aspects about the learning object: the colour of light. This study is a refinement of a previous study done in Hong Kong and has also been designed to examine if critical aspects can be transferred from one school context to another context.</p><p>In this study eight critical aspects where identified in the two classes that the survey was conducted in. Five of them where already identified in the study from Hong Kong. The conclusion is that critical aspects are generalized, not only between classes in Sweden, but also between different countries, even if it is from a third grade in Hong Kong to a ninth grade in Sweden. Learning study, as a model, and the theory of variation, as a guiding principle, can lead to a richer learning both for the pupils, but also for the teachers that participate in the research.</p>

In Italy, the period directly following World War II was marked by confusion and turbulence as the people struggled to reconstruct both the ideological and physical infrastructure of the nation. While much study has been dedicated to the evolution of femininity and the figure of the woman in this particular period, comparatively little has been written on the refashioning of masculinity in the texts produced in the period between 1940 and 1955. After the fall of the Fascist Regime, Italian masculinity undergoes a drastic transformation as the generation of young men born and raised under the tutelage of Mussolini’s reign attempt to separate themselves from the now-tainted codes of conduct governing male behavior. This report analyzes the renegotiation of Italian masculinity in G. Silvano Spinetti’s non-fictional account Difesa di una generazione (scritti e appunti), Italo Calvino’s Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, Beppe Fenoglio’s short story “Gli inizi del partigiano Raoul” and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Ragazzi di vita. These works, written and published in the postwar period, manipulate the vi marginality and privation experienced by the Italian population during the war and postwar period into a liminal state brimming with revolutionary potentiality. The protagonists of these texts (both fictional and non-fictional), isolated from the larger social context and deprived of individual identity, property and privilege, circumvent their polluted patriarchal lines in favor of an alternative ideological patriarchy. While Spinetti, Calvino and Fenoglio’s works advance their liminal narratives as a means of creating an emblematic Italian man capable of rejoining the generative discourse, Pasolini’s text renounces such a progressive view. In Ragazzi di vita, the only possibility for a masculine identity free of Fascism resides in a maintaining a perennial liminality. / text